After many gray days lately, last week the sun came out for a short time again. Swimming under an almost clear blue sky in my favorite outdoor pool, I suddenly got aware of the fact that all human beings, even most animals and plants are drawn toward the visible light. These few sunrays made the water sparkle and glitter both on the surface and underneath. Due to the warm temperature inside (30 °C, i.e., 86 °F) the pool soon turned into a vapor bath. As the cold Eastern winds blew stronger, playing a funny game with these continually shaping clouds of steam, my heart was rejoicing over the ingenuity of our Creator. It was really an amazing spectacle! 🙂

Okay, I need to admit that I had already written this first paragraph above on December 12th last year. 😉 Nonetheless, after a few weeks filled with trials and tribulation esp. as to my health and, additionally, due to recurring demonic attacks, I made a very similar experience yesterday. If you happen to swim in this outdoor pool directly toward the sunlight, you are blinded completely as the sun is much lower in the sky than in summer. You only see this quickly moving light on the water surface and above somehow illuminated water vapor. What you do NOT see in this direction is someone who might swim there as well. It is only in the very last moment that you see the shadow of a human head arising from nothingness, but still, no face is readily identifiable. However, if you swim into the other direction, the opposite happens: you recognize everyone while they who keep swimming toward the light are blinded like you were before. What was interesting to me was that almost all people with whom I had talked would be happy because of this experience of extreme sunlight. One woman yesterday made an interesting remark. She said, “I was so fed up with these gray days last weekend. Just being here in the sun takes your mind off things.” Aha! That is amazing! 😀 The apostle John told us that,

“In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (Jn 1:4-5 ESV)

I have made similar observations as this woman did when I was forced to stay at home for some time. If I did not pray, my thoughts and worries would always be circling around the same problems that caused nothing but darkness, even ‘death’ in my mind. But these numerous mental re-runs at times seemed to be like inevitable fate to me. So I began to wonder why does God want that we pray to Him? 🙄 It appears to me that whether we approach God out of need by telling Him our prayer requests or if we simply try to spend some time with Him by asking Him to be with us in all that we do, if we invite Him into it all, our mind is taken off this-worldly things and re-directed toward the Eternal, toward the Kingdom of God. Therefore, this approach or prayer can be a step toward and, maybe, even into the eternal light. Jesus said,

“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (Jn 8:12 ESV)

And again, the apostle John confirmed the importance of walking in the light by following Jesus here,

“[T]hat which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” (1 Jn 1:3-7 ESV)

Did you happen to see this? Fellowship in the light means completeness of joy also! Wow!! 😊 Why then should anyone keep walking in the darkness by concealing their sins or by hiding behind a spurious personality? 🙄 We can go to Jesus, always, just like we are right now. There is nothing to fear as we still live in the dispensation of the mercy of God revealed through His Son Jesus Christ.

“Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” (Jn 6:35-37 ESV – emphasis added)

Those are great pictures, Susanne. It is amazing how the angle that light shines on a scene can make all the difference, just as you pointed out. Above you quoted Jesus saying, “I am the Light of the world, whoever follows me… will have the light of life.” And John testified, “In him was life, and the life was the light of men”

His Life within us always precedes light. Without His life within us we have no light. Without His life in us we are doomed to walk in darkness. His light can even dispel the darkness of our thoughts . Jesus said,

“…If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” (Matt 6:23, ESV2011)

How can the light within us be darkness? It seems that there is light, then there is LIGHT. People study the Bible to become enlightened Bible scholars. That is one form of light. But it is NOT the Light of Life that shines within us when we follow Him. Jesus summed it up this way when He spoke to the Bible scholars of 2000 years ago,

“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.” (John 5:39-40, ESV2011)

No Life, no light. Jesus is the Light of Life, not the Bible. We must first have HIS Light in us if we are to gain any benefit from reading the scriptures and even then it is up to Him to teach us by His Spirit the things He wills us to learn as we read them.

May we walk in the Light as HE is in the Light that we might know an ever deeper fellowship IN the Father and the Son. Amen.

I believe that all creation is drawn toward the visible light of the ☀️ as a ‘shadow’/mirror of the invisible, true, eternal light which is IN Him Who is Spirit. God created a void in the human heart so that we might seek Him and His Light. I think human experiences with sunlight, or even🌛 and ⭐⭐⭐light are divine lessons of sorts. May we all have enlightened eyes to really see when He reveals something to us. Amen.

Actually, Susanne, I believe that the void in the human heart started with their caving to the temptation of Satan in the garden; to be “wise” and “like God” under his and twisted knowledge instead of the law of love and spiritually one with their Creator. The first manifestation of this void came immediately after they ate of the forbidden fruit, their eyes were opened an they saw that they were naked. This illicit knowledge of the devil, deciding what is good and what is evil apart from God, came into them as the serpent promised it would. As a result God found them hiding from Him in the garden and asked them, “Who told you you were naked?” God created them naked and unashamed and pronounced it “good.” Satan seduced them under his twisted authority and they became ashamed and saw their nakedness as bad and they feared the Father and hid from Him, becoming subject to the Father of Lies. Jesus said he was a liar and a murder from the beginning. The second manifestation of Satan in them where God belonged was when Cain killed his brother, Abel, out of pure jealousy).

Susanne, you are right, here is a terrible void in us all that cries out to return to what was lost, perfect communion with our Creator and He longs for that with us as well. Jesus addressed this in His final prayer for us saying,

“The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:22-26, ESV2011)

Michael, in’t it interesting that I shared similar thoughts about ‘[t]his illicit knowledge of the devil, deciding what is good and what is evil apart from God’ with my daughter on the phone yesterday? 😉

Amen, me too, Michael. ⭐ ❤ ⭐ But in this case Sarah had a wide open heart for God’s voice as well. He has been working in her life a lot in the years past as you well know. Even today He spoke to her three times in the morning and encouraged her to trust in Him regardless of her sometimes contradictory thoughts and feelings. She did and eventually all worked out fine! 🙂

Susanne, what a wonderful answer to our prayers for your daughter that she would come back from that dark pit. The changes that have occurred over the last two years have been amazing.
Thank you, Daddy, for all you are doing in our lives, Amen

Susanne, I was watching a documentary film called “Idaho from Above” last night which was about the many senic areas of our state as seen from a helicopter far above. During this film the narrator quoted Charles Dickens,

“THERE are dark shadows on the earth,
but its lights are stronger in the contrast.”

John wrote,

“In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in darkness; and the darkness overcame it not.” (John 1:3-5, KJ2000)

His light shining forth in your family through you is stronger than any darkness that the enemy has tried to hold them captive by and we are seeing the fruit of it. As Judi so appropriately quoted,

”But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” (Prov 4:18)

Michael, you know how much I appreciate your prayers for my family and me. This has been a trial time lately, for sure. Just another trial today…. soooo…. I really covet your prayers for my family, my dear brother! ❤

I know if there is indeed light that can be seen, then it is always Him. Thank God for Jesus Christ and His redeeming work! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Thank you for the comfort offered by this post, Susanne. Sadly, there is increasing darkness in the world — a combination of evil intentions, mistaken information, lies masquerading as truth, and outright ignorance. That combination is deadly, in a spiritual sense. Many people do not recognize the truth when it is presented to them.

Yes, you are right about this increasing darkness. Just today I had several talks with different women in and at this pool I wrote about. None of them was a Christian. Although they had various opinions on today’s international situation, none of them could imagine that things might get better in the days ahead, either. Alas, I am afraid, this is true as our hope can merely be found in the eternal realm. Nonetheless, God will care for us, His children, despite difficult circumstances. We can only pray for those whose ears are still stuffed toward the truth.

Anna and Susanne, as I read your exchange the following passage came to me and it speaks of great hope in a time of great darkness…

“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. ​And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. Lift up your eyes all around, and see; they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be carried on the hip.” (Isa 60:1-4, ESV2011)

Don’t forget, God has the final say in how all this craziness turns out… HE WINS!

The pictures are awesome Susanne! I especially like the first one and this scripture comes to mind:
” But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” (Prov 4:18)
Just like you started the post on a different date and it was continued at this later time,
there was increasing light and JOY from the Life in the words – so Christ came through, by the Eternal Spirit, wonderfully 🙂

Psalm 119:103-105
“How sweet are thy words unto my taste! Yea sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Through they precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”

Hebrews 5:14
“But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even to those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”

It has recently been like being able to sense spiritually, as one might sense naturally, the taste, the sound, the touch, etc. in the posts and comments.
I know we must be careful not to put too much into ‘feeelings’ as such since they can be unreliable…must keep exercising lol…

Psalm 139:7-12 (ESV)
7 “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! 9 If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” 12 even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.”

The New Age folks use the words “Light and Life” often when they would ‘bless’ those they are talking/writing to but sadly they are so deceived.
Like Michael comments about that from Matthew:
“If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” (Matt 6:23, ESV2011)
All related to the inability to recognize that ” …Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light” (2 Cor 11:14b) and so are his ministers (vs15).

To our comfort Paul writes:
” Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of the darkness.” (1 Thess 5:5)

Amen to your prayer in your comment to Michael, Susanne:
“May we all have enlightened eyes to really see when He reveals something to us. Amen.”

Thank you for your encouraging words, Judi. Glad you liked the pics! 🙂 Yes, the first photo has been edited several times by me because I would take it in the early morning shortly after sunrise as it was pretty dark, still.

You are right as to not rely on feelings since as soon as our enthusiasm is gone, we might realize whether we have had faith in God or in our good feelings only.

I have known ppl from the ‘Light and Life’ camp also. Most of the times they are very kind at that so it can be difficult to discern the right from the wrong. But God’s Spirit will always reveal the truth to us. On our own we would be toast as there are so many different false spirits at work in people, esp. nowadays as confusion and chaos are on the rise in every area of life.

Thanks again,
Susanne XO ❤

PS
As you liked this first picture so much, here is a similar one from another perspective, a picture I took on the same day. If you’re interested, you might check out this post.

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Thank you,Susanne! A breathtaking photo! I had not read that post (don’t know if I had found your blog yet?) so am glad that you shared it. The content tracks right along with my thoughts on this post. Just beautiful.
I liked Anna’s comment with the “Heaven and the Spoons” story too 🙂 The story fits how we interact here and at AWV.
Actually today I was rather ‘out of sorts’ and so I am glad that you were encouraged 🙂
XO Judi

You are very welcome, Judi. And thanks again for your encouraging comments. 🙂

I just browsed my WordPress Admin dashboard searching for your first reply on here, and indeed, you had not commented on my blog before 2017. This other blog ‘Love is You’ had been written nine months before. If you like to check out your first reply on EPL, here is the link:

The things I wrote in that comment along with this verse all of a sudden came into focus. God’s idea of what is “good” and what is “evil” is not found in our religious law keeping. No, to Him what is good is when we are in unity with Him as our Father. Unity is obedience that is motivated by love for Him, not fear. “Evil” in the mind of God is when there is discord and disunity regarding our relationship with Him. Jesus came to show us what a life that was in unity with the Father looks like and then offered Himself up as a perfect sacrifice for sin (disunity with the Father and the Son) and fill us with His Spirit so we could once again come into alignment with the two of them in all things. So, as we come into “full age” by experiencing His joy when we are in unity and His displeasure when we are not, this is the process by which we “discerning both good and evil” and the “strong meat” of the knowledge and wisdom that is in Christ becomes ours as well because of our unity with Him.

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To quote again Susanne’s prayer from her comment to you, Michael:
“May we all have enlightened eyes to really see when He reveals something to us. Amen.”
Wow! That comment is revelation in answer to her prayer 🙂
I hope the Lord enlarges that thought even more as it is so simple yet profound. Unity/Disunity – good/evil – and the verses that you quoted from the Lord’s prayer in John 17 – Wonderful!
Love in Him to you too, Michael

I remember when I was un born again people would tell me the story of Jesus and how He dies on the cross for me—At that time it makes no sense to me—But now I’m birthed from above and it’s a treasured possession —-It takes a other mind to make us realize what the realist fact is.

Just yesterday I was talking to a friend about it. Day by day we have many distractions that can take us away from the Light and lead us into darkness. That is why the Lord sometimes shakes us so that we can go to Him and not be distracted by the things of daily life and the things of the heart. Last week I was distracted by many chores and worries like Martha de Bethany and in less than nothing the Lord shook me, gave me back pain again, the sciatic nerve flamed up again and the Lord aligned me again with Him. Father knows how to do His things!

I am sorry to hear about your latest experience with back pains. 😦 A big hug to you! May God keep you and protect your health!

Having had at least two damaged disks, I have become an expert at back pains as well. Whenever I bend forward wrongly or when I work too much, my hurting back reminds me to seek God and rest instead of running around like a hamster in his wheel. What helps me also is backstroke swimming. This is pretty relieving when I have back pains and strengthens my back muscles, too.

Susanne and Patricia, it seems that God uses back pains in the lives of all three of us! I know that I would be doing all manner of things without asking Him first if it was not for the condition of my back and my chronic pain. Taking long walks seems to help relieve the pains and spasms, though.

Susanne, Thank you for your many and transparently encouraging articles. I have appreciated them a lot.
You wrote above “Why then should anyone keep walking in the darkness by concealing their sins or by hiding behind a spurious personality?”
That is a very good and thought provoking question . . . thinking about it, it seems like fear of unknown, comfort of known (even if it isn’t so great), and pride-ugh, wanting my own way, sometimes shame, these all contribute to (what I can say for myself) hesitating to be open.
Anyway, thanks for sharing. This is where I seem to be at times. Don’t know if you can relate or not. I appreciate the encouragement to be open and transparent.

Thank you for your encouraging contribution, Bruce. I am glad you found my writings helpful as I always only write from my own experiences.

You are very welcome as to these articles. In fact, as I had started this blog five years ago, I wrote a lot of encouraging posts and I thought I would continue to do so. But no, God’s will instead was to teach me about discerning the spirits in countless practical lessons and so I have been writing on this very issue for three and a half years now. Admittedly, I know it is an important topic but I would have rather written about God’s love and other more encouraging themes.

Of course, I can relate! It is so hard to be open and to get vulnerable with others, not knowing whether we will be hurt (again) or not. My pride is always in the way also and my flesh wants to be approved by others as well. However, as soon as I give in to my carnal nature’s longings, I lose His peace and have difficulties to hear His voice clearly. I need to admit that it is always a struggle for me to get back to God. Furthermore, whenever I write about something, God tests me about IT until I see that I cannot do anything which is good in His view on my own. So, it is not always enjoyable to write specific articles as I know that my faith will be put to the acid test on such topics again and again.

Susanne
Thanks for the reply. I hope you can be encouraged in what you experience and the reality of what you go through and write about. I know I appreciate the honest reality of what you write and benefit from that reality you walk through to be able to share. I hope that makes sense.
Thanks again
Bruce

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“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him."
(John 3:16-17 ESV)

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